And in trade, South Korea recorded a healthy current account surplus in June.<br />Not as big as a year earlier, though.<br />Kim Hyesung has the data from the nation's central bank. <br /> South Korea's current account surplus hit 7-point-4 billion U.S. dollars in June, to mark 76 straight months in the black. <br />But the current account surplus for the first half of this year as a whole dropped nearly 17 percent on-year to 29-point-six billion,.. . the lowest figure in six years.<br /><br /> "The goods account surplus in the first half of this year shrank from last year's 56-point-nine billion to 55-point-seven billion dollars... as the value of imports rose faster than exports because of higher oil prices."<br /><br /> Exports of goods in the first half of this year rose eight-point-eight percent on-year on the back of semiconductors and machinery.<br />But goods imports rose by a bigger margin of 11-point-five percent on rising global oil prices, which went up by 16 dollars a barrel compared to the first half of last year. <br /> The service account deficit hit 2-point-45 billion dollars in June.<br />In the first half of this year, the service account deficit widened from last year's 15-point-four billion dollars to 15-point-nine billion dollars.<br />The bank attributed the rise to the sluggish domestic shipping industry and a bigger deficit in the travel account.<br /> The travel account deficit hit eight-point-five billion, marking the second-largest half-yearly loss following a record high tallied in the second half of 2017. <br />This came mainly as the number of domestic departures outpaced the number of foreign arrivals.<br /> The financial account, which shows capital outflows and inflows, recorded a surplus of 4-point-seven billion dollars in June, and 24 billion for the first half of this year.<br />Both down from the same period last year... as Korean companies increased their investment abroad and their dividend payments.<br />Kim Hyesung, Arirang News. <br />
